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Religion Data of Census 2011: V

Reversal of the imbalance in a difficult border region:

JHARKHAND
Southeastern part of Bihar, comprising the Purnia region, and Jharkhand mark the
beginning of the eastern border region of India that has been undergoing rapid
religious demographic transformation for several decades. In the latest decade of
2001-11, the share of Indian Religionists in the population has declined much more
rapidly than the national average in parts of Jharkhand, and more so in West Bengal
and Assam to the east of it. Even so, in many regions and districts of Jharkhand,
Indian Religionists, particularly Hindus, have registered higher growth than the
Muslims and Christians during this decade. The growth rate of Indian Religionists in
Jharkhand has in fact slightly increased during 2001-11, while that of Muslims and
Christians has declined significantly from the very high levels they registered in 1991-
2001. That is why we are including Jharkhand with Bihar, in the region of tentative
recovery of the balance, rather than with West Bengal and Assam, where the
imbalance has worsened further.The recovery is perhaps even more impressive in
Jharkhand than in Bihar.

In Jharkhand, persons counted under the category of Other Religions and

Persuasions (ORPs) form a significant proportion of the population, and their share
keeps varying widely from decade to decade. In order to understand the direction of
demographic change in the State, it is necessary to work with the category of Indian
Religionists (IRs) which includes both Hindus and ORPs, as also Sikhs, Jains,
Buddhists and those counted under RNS. We give detailed data for all these
separately in a subsequent post.

IR share continues to decline but at a slower rate

The share of Indian

Percent Share of Different Communities, 1951-2011
Religionists in Jharkhand 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
has gone down from 82.09 IR 87.79 86.45 85.30 84.75 84.10 82.09 81.17
percent in 2001 to 81.17 Muslim 8.09 9.38 10.35 11.26 12.18 13.85 14.53
percent in 2011. This Christian 4.12 4.17 4.35 3.99 3.72 4.06 4.30
decline of 0.93 percentage points is more than the average decline of 0.74 percentage
points that the IR have seen in the country as a whole. But it is much lower than the
decline of 2.01 percentage points that took place in the State in the previous decade.
As seen in the Table here, there has been a long-term trend of decline in the IR share
in the area that now forms Jharkhand. In the six decades between 1951 and 2011, their
share has declined by more than 6.62 percentage points. The decline that occurred in
the previous decade was the largest since Independence; that trend of steep decline
has been partly arrested in 2001-11.

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Corresponding to the decline of 0.93 percentage points in the IR share during 2001-
11, the share of Muslims has increased by 0.68 and that of Christian by 0.24
percentage points. Rise in the Muslim share during the previous decade was much
higher at 1.67 percentage points. Since 1951, the share of Muslims in the State has
increased by 6.44 percentage points; the share of Christians has been varying from
decade to decade, but has remained nearly unchanged at around 4 percent.

Five regions of Jharkhand

To comprehend the trends of religious demographic change in Jharkhand, it is

instructive to look at different regions of the State separately. Jharkhand can be
divided into five distinct regions, corresponding to the earlier undivided districts of
Palamu, Hazaribagh-Dhanbad, Santhal Pargana, Ranchi and Singhbhum. The current
districts comprising these five regions are shown in Map V-A. Religious demography
of the five regions is quite different, though there are wide differences in some of the
districts within a region also. Below we discuss the spread and growth of Muslims,
Christians and Indian Religionists in different regions and districts of Jharkhand.

Share and Growth of Muslims

Share of Muslims in different regions

The share of Muslims in the districts and regions of Jharkhand is shown in Map V-B
below.

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As seen in the Map, Muslims in Jharkhand are concentrated particularly in Santhal

Pargana, where their share in the population in 2011 is 22.73 percent. The region
accommodates almost exactly one-third of the nearly 48 lakh Muslims in Jharkhand,
while it has only one-fifth of the total population of 3.3 crore. Santhal Pargana—
especially the two districts of Sahibganj and Pakur with the highest share of Muslims
at 34.6 and 35.9 percent, respectively—lies near the Bangladesh border and is
separated from it only by a thin strip of land lying in Maldah and Murshidabad
districts of West Bengal.

There is significant presence of Muslims in Hazaribagh-Dhanbad and Palamu regions

also, where they form 15.6 and 12.6 percent of the population, respectively. Within
these regions, their presence is the highest in Giridih, which immediately adjoins
Deogarh and Jamtara districts of Santhal Pargana.

Rise in Muslim Share since 1951

The Table here gives the
Share of Muslims in the Regions of Jharkhand, 1951-2011
changing share of Muslims
from 1951 to 2001. Hazaribagh- Santhal-
Palamu Dhanbad Pargana Ranchi Singhbhum
Muslims in Jharkhand are
1951 9.88 11.03 9.44 5.32 3.27
concentrated particularly in
1961 9.69 11.41 13.77 5.74 3.75
Santhal Pargana, where
their share in the population 1971 10.49 12.53 14.62 7.27 3.95
1981 11.13 13.04 16.44 7.78 4.56
in 2011 is 22.73 percent.
The region accommodates 1991 11.49 13.71 18.25 8.35 5.10
2001 12.51 15.00 20.59 10.72 6.32
almost exactly one-third of
the nearly 48 lakh Muslims 2011 12.60 15.61 22.73 10.58 6.29
in Jharkhand, while it has only one-fifth of the total population of 3.3 crore. Santhal

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Pargana—especially the two districts of Sahibganj and Pakur with the highest share of
Muslims at 34.6 and 35.9 percent, respectively—lies near the Bangladesh border and
is separated from it only by a thin strip of land lying in Maldah and Murshidabad
districts of West Bengal.

There is significant presence of Muslims in Hazaribagh-Dhanbad and Palamu regions

also, where they form 15.6 and 12.6 percent of the population, respectively. Within
these regions, their presence is the highest in Giridih, which immediately adjoins
Deogarh and Jamtara districts of Santhal Pargana.

The presence of Muslims is relatively low in Ranchi and Singhbhum, where they form
10.6 and 6.3 percent of the population, respectively. Within these regions, their
presence is relatively higher in Lohardaga (20.6%), Ranchi (14.1%) and Purbi
Singhbhum (8.9%) districts. In Lohardaga, the share of Muslims had suddenly
increased during the previous decade, from 14.35 percent in 1991 to 20.11 percent in
2001; the rise during 2001-11 has only been marginal.

Rise in the Muslim share since 1951

As seen in the Table above, the share of Muslims has been rising significantly in each
of the five regions of the State, even in those regions where their presence is not very
high. In Singhbhum and Ranchi, their share has almost doubled since 1951; in Palamu
it has gone up from 9.9% in 1951 and 9.7% in 1961 to 12.6% now; in Hazaribagh-
Dhanbad, it has risen from 11.0% in 1951 to 15.6 percent in 2011.

The most spectacular rise in the share of Muslims, however, has taken place in
Santhal Pargana: they had a share of just 9.4 percent in the population of the region in
1951; their share in 2011 is 22.7 percent. Since Independence and Partition, the
population of Muslims in this region has multiplied by 7.3 times from 2.19 in 1951 to
15.84 lakh in 2011, while that of Indian Religionists has grown by a factor of 2.4,
from 21.0 to 50.9 lakh.

The rise stalls except in Santhal Pargana

The most remarkable aspect of the data compiled in the Table above, however, is the
stalling of the long-term rise in Muslim share in at least 3 of the 5 regions of the State.
In Ranchi and Singhbhum, where the presence of Muslims is the lowest among all the
regions, the proportion of Muslims has actually declined between 2001 and 2011. In
Palamu, the Muslim share has remained almost unchanged. It is only in Hazaribagh-
Dhanbad and Santhal Pargana that the rise in Muslim share during 2001-11 seems to
have followed the long-term trend. But the accretion of 0.61 percentage points in the
former is much lower than the rise of 1.29 percentage points in the Muslim share that
occurred in this region in the previous decade of 1991-2001. In Santhal Pargana,
however, the share of Muslims has increased by 2.14 percentage points, which is
similar to the rise of about 2 percentage points that the Muslims have been registering
for the past several decades.

Thus, we see the pattern of Bihar repeated in Jharkhand. The growth in the share of
Muslims seems to have stalled in regions where the Muslim presence is relatively
lower, but their growth has remained considerably above others in the regions where
they have established a high presence.

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Decline in the Muslim Growth Rates

Another way to look at the
stalling of the rise in Muslim Growth Rates of Total Population and Muslims
share in regions other than 1991-2001 2001-2011
Santhal Pargana is to look at T M T M
the change in the growth rate of Jharkhand 23.24 40.28 22.42 28.48
Muslims in Jharkhand and in Palamu 27.85 39.24 27.31 28.23
the five regions of the State that Hazaribagh-Dhanbad 24.59 36.30 20.60 25.47
we have been mentioning. In Santhal-Pargana 22.03 37.67 24.40 37.37
the Table here, we have Ranchi 22.95 57.82 23.05 21.50
compiled the rates for 1991- Singhbhum 19.55 48.06 19.57 19.00
2001 and 2001-2011 for the
total and the Muslim population. As can be seen, between these two decades, Muslim
growth has declined substantially in the whole State, as well as in all the regions
except Santhal Pargana. This is partly because of the excessively high growth of
Muslims that the State experienced during 1991-2001. But, what is even more
significant is that in the Ranchi and Singhbhum regions, the growth rate of Muslims
has declined below that of the total population, leading to the lowering of the share of
Muslims in these two regions. In Palamu, the growth rate of Muslims has come very
near the total; the share of Muslims in that region has remained almost unchanged.

In Hazaribagh-Dhanbad, the growth rate of Muslims has declined substantially from

36.3 to 25.5 percent, but Muslim growth in 2001-11 remains considerably above that
of the total population at 20.6 percent. In this region, the share of Muslims has
increased significantly from 15.0 to 15.6 percent.

In Santhal Pargana, however, the growth of Muslims in 2001-11 has been almost
exactly the same as in 1991-2001. Perhaps because of the high growth of Muslims,
the growth rate of the total population has also increased as compared to the previous
decade. The gap between the growth rate of Muslims (24.4%) and the total population
(37.4%), however, remains very high. The share of Muslims in this border region of
high and growing Muslim presence has increased from 20.59 to 22.73 percent.

Share and Growth of Christians

Share of Christians in different regions

Share of Christians in the districts and regions of Jharkhand is shown in Map V-C
below:

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Growth in the share of Christians

The Table here gives growth of Share of Christians in Different Regions, 1951-2011
the Christian share in different Hazaribagh- Santhal-
regions since 1951. Christians Palamu Dhanbad Pargana Ranchi Singhbhum
in Jharkhand are concentrated 1951 1.39 0.53 0.18 18.24 1.75
mainly in the Ranchi region; of 1961 1.67 0.34 1.14 17.71 2.07
the total of 14 lakh Christians 1971 1.79 0.59 1.55 17.70 2.23
1981 1.88 0.53 1.64 16.57 2.26
in the State, 8.6 lakhs are in 1991 1.76 0.57 1.68 15.71 2.18
this region. The share of 2001 1.91 0.63 3.24 15.42 2.41
Christians here has been slowly 2011 1.78 0.62 4.21 15.48 2.59
declining since 1951; for the
first time since Independence, they have registered a slight improvement in their share
in this latest decade of 2001-11. The decline was mainly because of the consistent
increase in the share of Muslims in this region that we have noticed above; the slight
rise seen now is because for the first time since Independence, the share of Muslims in
this region has shown a slight decline. As we shall see below, the share of Indian
Religionists in this region has also marginally improved in this decade.

Newly formed high Christian presence districts

Within the Ranchi region, Christian presence is high in Simdega (51.1%), Khunti
(25.7%) and Gumla (19.8%). Simdega and Khunti have been newly carved out of
Gumla and Ranchi, respectively. Gumla was carved out earlier in 1991 from Ranchi;
at that time, Christians formed nearly one-third of the population of this district.
Bifurcation of Gumla has now created the first Christian majority district in central
India.

This process of carving out niche districts with a dominating presence of either the
Muslims or Christians has been going on in different parts of India almost

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continuously. The more obvious examples are of Malappuram in Kerala, Gajapati in

Orissa, Mewat in Haryana, and now Simdega in Jharkhand.

Christians in Santhal Pargana

After Ranchi, the highest presence of Christians is in Santhal Pargana; and, unlike in
Ranchi, the share of Christians in this region has been consistently rising. The rise has
been especially steep after 1991; between 1991 and 2001, their share in the region
rose from 1.68 to 3.24 percent and it has risen again to 4.21 percent in 2011. In 1951,
there was almost no Christian presence in Santhal Pargana.

Within Santhal Pargana, the Christian share is particularly high in Sahbibganj, Pakur
and Dumka, the three districts where the Muslim share is also very high. In this
region, the Indian Religionists have been loosing their share to both Muslims and
Christians. Within Santhal Pargana, the Christian share is particularly high in
Sahbibganj, Pakur and Dumka, the three districts where the Muslim share is also very
high.

Christians in other regions

Christian presence has been slowly growing in the Singhbhum region. During 2001-
11, their share in the population has increased marginally from 2.41 to 2.59 percent.
Within this region, their presence is the highest in Pashchimi Singhbhum; in this
district, they now form 5.83 percent of the population compared to 5.13 percent in
2001.

In Palamu and Hazaribagh-Dhanbad, the Christian presence is low and has been
varying from decade to decade. During 2001-11, their share in both regions has
marginally declined.

Within these two regions, the Christian presence is significant only in the newly
created Latehar district. The district has been carved out from Palamu; and of the 54
thousand Christians in undivided Palamu, 48 thousand have come to the share of
Latehar. Christian share in the population of Latehar is 6.55 pearcent. Their share in
all other districts of these two regions is below 1 percent, except in Garhwa, where
they form 1.30 percent of the population.

Decline in the Christian Growth Rates

Another way to comprehend the
Growth Rates of Total Population and Christians
slowing of the growth of
1991-2001 2001-2011
Christian share in different
regions of Jharkhand, except T C T C
Santhal Pargana, is to look at the Jharkhand 23.24 34.53 22.42 29.74
changing growth rate of Palamu 27.85 39.19 27.31 18.48
Christians over the last two Hazaribagh-Dhanbad 24.59 37.34 20.60 17.99
decades. As can be seen in the Santhal-Pargana 22.03 136.1 24.40 61.70
Table here, the growth rate of Ranchi 22.95 20.68 23.05 23.52
Christians has declined Singhbhum 19.55 32.07 19.57 28.70
substantially in Palamu and in
Hazaribagh-Dhanbad. In both these regions, the Christian growth in 2001-11 is below
the average growth of the total population of the region. In Santhal Pargana, also the
growth rate has declined from the unusually high 136 percent during 1991-2001 to

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61.7 percent in 2001-11. But the latter rate is still far above the average growth of
population in this region. Contrary to the trend, the growth rate of Christians in
Ranchi is higher in 2001-11 than in 1991-2001. Their growth rate was below the
average of the region in 1991-2001, it is slightly above the average now. In
Singhbhum, there has been some decline in the growth rate of Christians, but it
remains above the average of the region, which itself has increased slightly as
compared to the rate in 1991-2001.

Share and Growth of Indian Religionists

Changing share of IR since 1951

The share of Indian
Religionists is rather low in Share of IR in Different Regions of Jharkhand, 1951-2011
Ranchi and Santhal-Pargana Hazaribagh- Santhal-
regions, where they form Palamu Dhanbad Pargana Ranchi Singhbhum
73.94 and 73.05 percent of 1951 88.73 88.44 90.38 76.44 94.97
the population. In Singh- 1961 88.64 88.25 85.10 76.55 94.18
bhum, their proportion is 1971 87.73 86.88 83.83 75.03 93.82
much higher at 91.12 1981 86.99 86.42 81.91 75.65 93.18
percent. In Palamu and 1991 86.76 85.72 80.08 75.94 92.72
Hazaribagh-Dhanbad, their 2001 85.58 84.37 76.17 73.87 91.28
share is 85.62 and 83.78 2011 85.62 83.78 73.05 73.94 91.12
percent, respectively.

IR share has been declining in all five regions

In all five regions, the share of Indian Religionists has been falling more or less
consistently. The decline is the most steep in Santhal Pargana, where the share of IR
has come down from 90.38 percent in 1951 to 73.05 percent in 2011; of this decline
of 17.33 percentage points, 13.29 percentage points have accrued to the share of
Muslims and 4.03 percentage points to the share of Christians. The fall of 3.91
percentage points in the share of IR during 1991-2001 was the steepest since 1951-61;
during 2001-11 also, the loss in the IR share has been fairly high at 3.12 percentage
points.

The decline in the share of IR in Hazaribagh-Dhanbad region also has been significant
and consistent from decade to decade, though the volume of decline is not comparable
to Santhal Pargana. That trend of steady decline has continued during 2001-11 also.

In Singhbhum, there has been a slow decline up to 1991. The IR share declined
steeply by 1.44 percentage points in 2001. During 2001-11, there has been only a
marginal decline of 0.16 percentage points.

Reversal of the trend in Ranchi and Palamu

In Palamu, as in Singhbhum, there was an unusually steep decline of 1.18 percentage
points in the share of IR during 1991-2001. During 2001-11, the IR share has actually
registered a slight gain. In the Ranchi region also, the IR share has slightly increased
during 2001-11; but in this region, IR share had shown a rising trend earlier in 1981
and 1991 also, before undergoing a steep decline of more than 2 percentage points in
the previous decade.

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Rise in IR Growth Rates

Unlike the Christians and
Growth Rates of Total Population and IR
Muslims, the growth rate of
1991-2001 2001-2011
Indian Religionists in Jharkhand
has increased as compared to the T IR T IR
last decade, though it remains Jharkhand 23.24 20.28 22.42 21.04
below the growth rates of both Palamu 27.85 26.11 27.31 27.37
Christians and Muslims and the Hazaribagh-Dhanbad 24.59 22.63 20.60 19.76
average growth rate of the total Santhal-Pargana 22.03 16.07 24.40 19.30
population. The growth rate of IR Ranchi 22.95 19.59 23.05 23.18
during 2001-11 has surpassed the Singhbhum 19.55 17.68 19.57 19.36
growth during the previous
decade of 1991-2001 in all regions, except Hazaribagh-Dhanbad. It, however, remains
below the growth rate of the total population in Hazaribagh-Dhanbad, Santhal
Pargana and Singhbhum. In Palamu and Ranchi, the IR growth rate is marginally
above the growth of the total population. In Singhbhum, it is slightly below. In
Hazaribagh-Dhanbad, the IR growth is about 0.84 percentage points below the growth
of total population. The gap of growth between the IR and the total population in
Santhal Pargana is however quite wide. These differences are reflected in the changes
in the share of IR that we have discussed above. But, the recovery of the growth of IR
in this border and difficult region of India is clearly visible in the Table above.

Summary of the situation

The religious demographic profile of Jharkhand shows the three major communities,
the Muslims, Christians and the Indian Religionists contending for space in different
regions of the State. In Santhal Pargana, the share of Indian Religionists continues to
decline rapidly, while both Muslims and Christians keep recording robust growth. In
Hazaribagh-Dhanbad region, Muslims continue to grow faster than others, though the
gap seems to be diminishing. In Palamu, the Muslim growth advantage has been
largely neutralised and Christian growth has fallen behind others; as a result, the share
of IR in the region has improved, though only marginally. In the Ranchi region also
the growth of Muslims has slowed down, leading to a slight improvement in the share
of both Christians and IRs. In Singhbhum, the share of both Muslims and Christians
has increased marginally, while that of IR has slightly declined. In fact, the rise or
decline in the share of different communities has only been slight in all regions,
except Santhal Pargana. The rise of Muslim share and decline of IR in Hazaribagh-
Dhanbad is also somewhat significant, though nowhere near what has happened in
Santhal Pargana.

Thus, in Jharkhand, as in Bihar, the Indian Religionists seem to have reversed the
long-established trend of continuous decline in their share. The position of Jharkhand
in this regard is even more remarkable than Bihar, because in Jharkhand, the Indian
Religionists have to contend for demographic space with both the Muslims and the
Christians. And, in this contention, they seem to have begun reversing the trends of
continuous and all around decline quite decisively.

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Indian Religionists here include those counted as adherents of Other Religions and
Persuasions (ORPs), whose numbers have been changing from decade to decade. In
the next post, we shall discuss the relative situation of different groups counted within
the category of IR. We shall also talk about some of the individual districts where the
share of one or the other of the major communities has undergone unusual change.
 
 

Dr. J. K. Bajaj
Centre for Policy Studies
policy.cpsindia@gmail.com
www.cpsindia.org

November 6, 2015

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